And We're All Pawns of Fate
by Windflicker
Summary: He was supposed to be the hero, the one to save Unova. But when a single mistake goes wrong, Touya finds himself watching from the sidelines as his friends travel on, and Touko must rise to the challenge instead. Fate plays with everyone, doesn't it?
1. Sleight of Hand and Twist of Fate

_Author's Note:_

Okay, so this is my attempt at doing a Black and White adventure fic novelization that _isn't_ FerriswheelShipping, and is instead…ChessShipping! Which I love. :) Not that I have a problem with FerriswheelShipping; I actually quite like the ship. It's just that a lot of the time, authors don't keep the characters in character, _especially_ N, which really bugs me…and also, as a friend on here once stated, N's goal in the game and by the end of it is not to find romance but to find himself, so it seems a little odd that he would be falling head over heels for Touko/White or anyone… But then again, if done right, Ferriswheel can be awesome.

Anyway, I digress. I wanted to try something different with this fic, chapter-fic-wise. I think it's harder to write about Black/White with ChessShipping, and I hope that it's somewhat original, too. I've actually been wanting to write a Pokemon Black/White adventure fic for a while when this idea popped into my head. I know that not writing a Ferriswheel fic might lose me a few readers, but I hope that it might gain me some, too. :)

Other shippings include DualrivalShipping, or Cheren/Bianca.

By the way, if any of you have read my other fic, Bets and Decisions, this is in the same universe as that one, so it can be seen as a sort of sequel (though that one is just a short one-shot, as of now). So, just know that these are the same characters as in that one, with the same personalities and histories.

So…I hope you enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter One: Sleight of Hand and Twist of Fate<strong>

The day Touko White and her best friends received their first Pokemon was, strangely enough, a day that when of the gravest, and most bizarre, mistakes that would determine the future of Unova had been made.

Not that any of them knew this at the time, of course, and not that any of them would know it for a while. In fact, even those who had made the mistake didn't know it yet. No one would, until the threat on Unova had risen to such a level that proper intervention was needed, whether from the hands of fate or from any heroes who were willing to take the stand. But that would all come in its own time. For now, it was still a beautiful spring morning in Nuvema Town, the Pidove chirping and fluttering through the air, the sun sprinkling its golden hopes and promises over the grass and the roofs of the slowly awakening houses—and a surprise was waiting inside the hearth of one of them.

Ever the punctual one, Cheren was the first to arrive at Touko's house, clad in his usual neat ensemble of skinny black pants and a striped shirt, his glasses just the slightest bit askew on his nose. It was nine in the morning, and Touko had woken up less than half an hour ago to the sound of her mother shouting at her from downstairs that she was heading out to Castelia City and wishing her a good day, and, after rubbing her eyes and lying underneath the covers for fifteen more minutes, she had climbed out of bed to the sight of the gift box sitting innocuously on her desk, blue and square and tied up in a bright green ribbon.

Of course, only after calling her friends and setting her Xtransceiver on the table had she noticed the card that lay underneath the bow and let out a loud yelp that echoed throughout her empty house, felt slightly insane, and then jumped up, shoving the feeling aside, and danced a victory lap around the perimeter of her room.

Not that Cheren needed to know that, of course.

"Hey, Cheren!" she called out, waving all too energetically at her friend before he had even ascended the steps. "Come in! Come on, hurry up!"

Cheren's eyebrows didn't even twitch from his usual expression as he stepped into her room, clearly annoyed at how perky his friend was so early in the morning.

"Now what's the rush that you called me here so—oh." He blinked, his eyes alighting on the box, and came to a halt. The hint of irritability disappeared from his voice, and mild curiosity took its place. "Oh. What is that?"

Touko waved the card in his face. She had read it so many times that she had practically memorized the words scrawled in Professor Juniper's neat, curly handwriting on the page, and she grinned, now, excitement bursting in her chest.

"You won't believe this, Cheren!" she exclaimed, and flung the card at him in a one-armed victory pose. "Read it! Read it!"

"Okay, okay, calm down, Touko. I will." Barely holding back an exasperated sigh, her friend bent down to pluck the card off the ground and squinted suspiciously at it.

Touko watched, grinning, as his eyes widened behind his glasses into two round, navy blue orbs. He dropped his hand to his side and looked up to stare incredulously at her.

"What is this, Touko?"

"Pokemon!" she exclaimed.

If Cheren hadn't been Cheren, she knew that he would have flung his hands up in the air and done a frenzied Torchic dance around the room. But since he _was_ Cheren, he only squeezed his hands together into a fist, rubbing his palms together.

"Do you know why, or how—"

"I think my mom was involved," Touko answered, grinning. "I mean, she _is_ mysteriously MIA right now."

A rare smile tugged at the corners of Cheren's mouth, lighting up his entire face, and Touko couldn't help but smile back at him. Which was, after all, pretty much the same for him as throwing his hands in the air and whooping.

"Well, if it _was_ her, tell her I said thanks."

A note of determination crept into his voice. Touko could see the gears turning in his head—studying strategy, training hard, leveling up, becoming Champion. After all, Cheren had wanted to be a trainer pretty much all his life; she knew that. This was the perfect opportunity for him.

She, on the other hand, was still coming to terms with believing what she saw before her eyes. How had her mom and the professor planned this so well?

"Shall we open it now?" Touko asked, reaching forward, but Cheren stopped her with a firm hand on her wrist.

"Let's wait for Touya and Bianca. You said you called them, right?"

"Of course I did!"

The two of them exchanged a mutual, good-natured grimace at the thought of waiting for Bianca, who was almost never on time, and then Cheren started pacing back and forth around the room as Touko continued to dance on the tips of her toes. They had barely started to guess the species of Pokemon that were inside the box (Minccino? Cheren speculated; he knew Professor Juniper was fond of them. Or maybe a Lillipup, since they were a good species to study. Touko was torn between something completely drab and anticlimactic like a Pidove and something brilliantly rare like an Emolga, coincidentally her favorite species. Why bother to even give them Pokemon, after all, if they weren't anything special?) when a knock sounded from the door below.

Sure enough, Touya arrived next, stumbling up the stairs with loud footsteps and a flourish of his long arms, and at the sight of him, brown hair tousled underneath his cap like he had just woken up, jacket thrown haphazardly over his shoulders, Touko's heart suddenly shot into overdrive.

"I heard you have some presents for us?" he asked, grinning wickedly and looking back and forth between his friends' faces.

It took a moment for Touko to calm her pulse down enough to answer him. "Even better," she said finally, grinning back. Her heart was beating so fast that she could feel the blood surging through her veins. Really, this was ridiculous. The two of them were best friends, she reminded herself. _Best friends_. They had known each other since they were toddlers, for Mew's sake. This—this _crush_ she had on Touya, or whatever it was, and had had for a few months now—was getting out of hand. "We have _Pokemon_!"

Touya almost hit the ceiling.

"What!" he shouted. "You have _what_? You're kidding me!"

"She's not," Cheren chimed in matter-of-factly, appearing over Touko's shoulder. "Professor Juniper sent a box of Poke Balls to her house. And apparently we each get one."

"What?" Touya exclaimed, his eyes bulging. "How did this happen? Where did you _get_ these Pokemon?"

"I stole them," Touko deadpanned. "No, Professor Juniper gave them to us. Though I think my mom had a hand in this…"

Touya let out a low whistle. "Damn, Touko, your mom is awesome." He smiled at her, momentarily worsening the Butterfree in her stomach, and then his gaze darted toward the box and seized it with a fixated eagerness. "Can we open them now?"

"Hold up, we have to wait for Bianca," Touko said, placing a hand on his shoulder. The spot where her skin connected with his tingled, and she pulled her hand away quickly.

Luckily, Touya didn't seem to notice. His shoulders slumped in mock dejection, and as he stumbled over to sit on her bed, he nearly tripped over a heap of clothes that Touko had forgotten to throw into the hamper the night before. She winced at the sight of them now, hoping there weren't any embarrassing T-shirts buried in the pile, like the baggy one that loudly blared "I heart Casteliacones" in a horrible shade of magenta, a souvenir Bianca's dad had brought back for her one year from Castelia City that she wore to bed, or the Four Leaf Snover shirt she had bought weeks before that band went out of style. Even though Touya probably had already seen her wearing them hundreds of times. What was she even thinking?

"What's keeping Bianca?" Cheren asked irritably, dragging her out of her mutinous thoughts. "I mean, seriously…of all the days to be late…"

The others murmured their agreement, and after a good ten minutes of celebration and impatient pacing and the inability to talk about anything else but the four Pokemon that were currently sitting in the box and that must be waiting for their trainers as impatiently as their trainers were waiting for them, Bianca burst into the room. Her green beret was half-falling off her head, and the bag she carried around everywhere with her was unzipped and spilling half of its contents—friendship bracelets, notebooks, gel pens, little bags of Smarties—on the floor.

"Oh my gosh, guys, am I a little late? I'm so sorry!" she panted, completely abandoning the bag with a loud thud and flinging her hands up to adjust her hat.

"A little?" Cheren's eyes were practically rolling out of his head as he glared at her, arms crossed. "Bianca…for Mew's sake…I've known for ten years that you have no sense of time, but did you really have to pick today of all days to be so late?"

Bianca spun around. "Why, what's today?"

"Today's the day we can get a Pokemon from Professor Juniper!" Touya blurted from Touko's bed, and Bianca's eyes widened into big green saucers.

"Oh my gosh!" she shrieked, practically jumping on Cheren. Cheren leaped back, grimacing and throwing a hand over the delicate rims of his glasses in a vain attempt to protect them from being crushed. "Pokemon? Where did that come from?"

"Touko's mom," Cheren sighed, stepping away from Bianca and pushing his (slightly bent) glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Oh my gosh! Touko, I love your mom!" Bianca's sweet, flowery scent swallowed Touko as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Giggling, Touko hugged their back. "I hope they're cute ones! Oh my gosh! Okay, what are you guys waiting for? Let's open the box!"

"That's what we've been _trying_ to do for hours…" Cheren shook his head, giving up on his hopeless friend.

Touya stood up from Touko's bed and shuffled over to the desk, and the three of them bent eagerly over the box.

"So…shall we do this, guys?" he whistled, sucking in his breath.

Cheren gestured toward the box. "You do the honors, Touko."

This would be a moment she would want to remember, Touko reminded herself, glancing over her shoulder at each of her friends, possibly forever. For a moment, she thought of the days when the four of them used to gather up in this very room with crayons and coloring books full of Pokemon, flipping through the pages until they were bent and dog-eared and worn at the edges, they had each grown. Since then, Cheren had grown tall and skinny, stretched out like a wire, a clump of hair on his head sticking up as if it was pulling him up in some sort of reverse gravity. Bianca, who had always verged on the chubby side as a child, had lengthened and somehow transformed her baby fat into soft curves that made her look way more feminine than Touko did. And Touya…Touya had always been a hyperactive kid, full of pranks and long limbs and loud whoops of laughter, but now that he had settled down, Touko found him often materializing in her mind at the most inconveninent of times, springing up like a Spoink and making her stumble over her own thoughts. Which he was doing right now, since he was standing about an inch away from her, so close she could feel the warmth radiating from his body…

Ugh. _Anyway_. Not like that was the point at all. The point was, they had come a long way, hadn't they?

The others crowded around as Touko stepped forward, the room suddenly, ceremoniously silent. She reached forward for the green satin of the ribbon. It was soft under her fingers, and tied much more messily than she had expected, unraveling and falling away easily in her hands. She pulled apart the buckle of the box and then, with a click, lifted the lid to reveal the prize waiting within.

The four of them gaped at the Poke Balls sitting inside the box, light dancing off their red and white surfaces.

Touko squinted at them, something stirring inside her in the silence that followed. What was it? She couldn't put her finger on it, but somehow she knew, she _felt_ in the chill of the room, that there was something terribly wrong with them.

"Really?" Cheren was the first to splutter in disgust as he squinted at the open box, its insides blanketed with red velvet, the ribbon torn away and flung haphazardly across Touko's desk. Professor Juniper's note, full of cheery well-meaning and obliviousness, fluttered to the floor and lay forgotten next to the pile of old laundry. None of them noticed it.

Cheren took a step forward and shoved his nose into the box for a few long moments before straightening and staring back at his friends with eyes full of disbelief.

"Really? Look at this. Are you kidding me?"

The others followed the direction of his gaze and the pale, slender finger he jabbed accusationally toward the gift box.

For a moment, Touko couldn't figure out what was wrong. What was it that had gotten Cheren so riled up? Not that it didn't happen a lot, especially when someone important got some important fact wrong; she knew him well enough to know that. But none of them had said anything, and he had been so excited a moment ago. All had seemed well. She stood on her tiptoes, craning her neck to peer past Touya's shoulders, and counted the gleaming Poke Balls inside the box.

One, two, three. Three. _Three_.

_Shit._

Touko landed back on her heels and slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.

Cheren sprang into action, pushing his glasses up and folding his arms over his skinny chest. He leaned forward and picked up the box, gently swirling it around and peering intently inside as if looking for hidden Poke Balls. Touko heard the muffled sounds of the Poke Balls thumping against the side of the box, and as the three of them watched with fascination, Cheren reached his hand into the box and fingered the velvet that covered its insides, patting down every side. After a few moments, he finally plunked the box back on the table and spun around with a scowl of defeat.

"Okay, yes, it's confirmed: there are only three Pokemon. And four of us. Somehow, Professor Juniper gave us one less Pokemon than we need. Ideas, thoughts, anyone?"

Cheren faced them and set his jaw, studying them with piercing eyes. The others knew him well enough to know that this was an opening statement, some sort of thesis that set the stage for debate.

But of course, none of them _were_ Cheren, so they only stared in silent dismay at the open box.

"Oh—oh no," gasped Bianca. "What'll we do now?"

Touko, too, was at a loss, frantically running a list of possibilities through her mind as she stared at the suddenly too-round, too-smooth, too-perfect Poke Balls. How could the professor have made such a glaring mistake? Would it be too rude to ask her for a fourth Pokemon? Well, obviously, that was a no-brainer. It wasn't as if the professor just handed out Pokemon to random people on a daily basis; it must have been a long-standing agreement between her mom and the professor to surprise the four of them. And they had done a good job. But then how could Professor Juniper have not known…?

They heard a soft _ahem_ and turned toward Touya.

"Really, guys, it's not so bad," he interjected cheerfully, ever the optimist. "At least we _get_ Pokemon."

"Yes, I suppose we should all be grateful for that," Cheren answered, half-serious, the other half dripping with thick globules of sarcasm. Touko could see the two sides struggling within him: polite, studious Cheren, and determined Cheren who wanted to effing be the _Champion_, already, and not have to deal with any of these stupid obstacles that weren't his fault in the first place. Only that of incompetent people. One of which he was certainly not. "But with all due respect, does the professor even realize—"

"Nah," Touya interrupted in a smooth drawl. "_Obviously_ she's never seen the four of us together or anything when she comes over to have dinner with Touko's mom. Which _isn't_ practically every weekend or anything. Geez, now that I think of it…the two of them are tight, aren't they?" He smiled at Touko, and the sight of it sent her heart fluttering into a frenzy again. She opened her mouth to tell him that she had been thinking the same thing, but he went on before she could choke out a semi-coherent reply.

"Obviously it's…" He narrowed his eyes, peering at them out of wry brown slits. "…a conspiracy from our parents. A final test of our faith. Duhn duhn duhn!"

Cheren raised an eyebrow at him, and Touko and Bianca both giggled.

"Obviously. What would she even be testing us on?" Cheren asked matter-of-factly, flicking his wrist in dismissal. He turned back to the box with a perplexed stare, his mouth twisted in thought. "Touko. Do you think you could ask your mom if she has any idea what we could do?"

"She's out, remember?" Touko reminded him. "Probably so this could be an even bigger surprise for us."

Cheren cursed under his breath, and Touya let out a low, teasing whistle at the sound. Cheren hardly got worked up enough to swear.

"Really, guys, it's not so bad," he repeated, grinning. "Now we get to have a contest! Competition time! Survival of the fittest! You hear what I'm saying?"

_But we don't compete_, Touko thought as the four of them glanced around at each other with nervous smiles. She bit her lip. To be honest, she wasn't really sure about what Touya was saying, and she was sure that Cheren and Bianca felt the same way, too. For the most part, the four of them were used to working _together_ to overcome challenges and _helping_ each other get things they wanted, not competing and _fighting_ each other for them—with the exception Cheren, maybe, who was lightyears ahead in his knowledge and liked to show it. Something like this was new and strange.

"Well…anyway…I think Touko should get one." Her heart pounding, Touko spun around to stare at Touya, who had broken the silence. He shrugged and smiled at her. "They were sent to her house, after all, and it's all thanks to her mom that we get them at all."

"Yeah!" Bianca agreed eagerly without even hesitating, her green eyes round with anticipation. "Touko deserves one!"

"I agree," Cheren said, nodding firmly.

Warmth swelled up inside Touko's stomach, and she turned away from the box to face all of them.

"Thanks, guys. You're the best!"

"No, _you_ are, Touko, for getting us these Pokemon in the first place!" Bianca exclaimed, giving her friend a quick hug. Then she pulled away and clapped her hands, hurriedly blurting, "And—and I think Cheren should get one, too! Guys, we all know how much he's, like, _always_ wanted to be Champion!"

Touko saw Cheren turn a faint shade of pink at her remark. "Thanks, Bianca."

"She's right," Touya said, smiling and clapping Cheren on the shoulder. "You deserve this, Cherry."

Cheren shot him a venomous glare. "Okay, call me that again and I'll turn my Pokemon loose on you the moment it comes out of its Poke Ball."

The others laughed halfheartedly, the thought of the Pokemon who would be doing that burning all too real in their minds. One more to go, Touko thought. Her insides clenched at the thought of either Touya or Bianca not having a Pokemon. How could something that was supposed to be a great surprise do this to them? Already, she realized, before they had even begun battling, Pokemon were pitting them against each other. No one spoke, their jaws tensed as they cradled the thought in their mind, not wanting to be the one who shattered the peace.

To everyone's surprise, it was Bianca who spoke up next, this time serious.

"Guys…maybe I…maybe I shouldn't get one," she murmured. Touko could see her bottom lip quivering, even as her friend bravely tried to push her chin forward and keep a straight face. When that didn't work, she took a deep breath and pushed on. "I mean—I want you guys to all have one. I want you to have a Pokemon, Touya! And plus…" She swallowed. Her voice was small when she continued. "Plus, my dad…I don't think he would be happy if I got a Pokemon…"

Touko could feel the tension in the room build, draping over them like a fog. Her stomach twisted at the thought, and she saw Cheren stare down at the ground, his mouth pursed in a thin, white line, and the corner of Touya's mouth fall with sympathy. Everyone in the room knew how overprotective Bianca's dad was of his sixteen-year-old daughter. It wasn't fair, Touko thought, gritting her teeth.

"Aww, no, Bee!" she exclaimed, rushing forward to wrap her arms around her friend. "No! Don't even say that! Of course you deserve one! We all do! But…"

But…but that meant…

"A'right, you know what?" They turned at the sound of Touya's voice shattering the tension. He smiled and leaned forward to give Bianca a reassuring clap on the back, trying to comfort his clearly distraught friend. "Thanks, Bee, I really appreciate it, but…I'll stay behind. I can help Professor Juniper around in the lab or something for now, and then maybe she can give me a Pokemon a bit later or something, and then I'll catch up to all of you."

The others were quiet, Bianca's mouth opened slightly in shock, Touko's heart swelling as if the Butterfree in her stomach had suddenly spread their wings and decided to take flight. Mew…and Touya had to be so _kind_, too, she thought, feeling slightly woozy and forgetting for a moment how she had promised herself they were only best friends and that she shouldn't feel this way about him…no, not at all…

But before she could scold herself any further, she noticed that the rest of them had stopped talking, and that Bianca was shaking her head forcefully, a troubled look in her eyes.

"No. No way, guys," she declared, an uncharacteristically steely note of determination in her voice. Her green eyes glistened as she pulled her hat dramatically up over her head to perch on top of her head. "I don't know about you, but this isn't okay with me. No way one of us shouldn't get a Pokemon! That just, like, wouldn't be fair! Friends don't let friends…um…not get Pokemon!"

Touya looked embarrassed, and he held up his hands. "No, really, Bianca, it's okay—"

"It's not!" she interrupted, shaking her head even harder. "I don't see why we should have to—to make this kind of choice, at all! It's totally not fair!"

Cheren stared at her expectantly with dark, muted eyes. "What do you suggest we do, instead, then?"

"I don't know, but I know that none of us should have to leave here without a Pokemon!" Bianca cried, so warmly that her bob of hair shook with every word. "Friends just don't _do_ that to each other, you know?"

Touko felt a great surge of love for her friend. She leaned over and gave her a quick hug.

"Would…would it be completely out of line if we asked Professor Juniper for a fourth Pokemon or something?" she piped up tentatively, pulling away.

Cheren looked uncomfortable. "Well…that _would_ be extremely rude, but…"

"Oh, come on, Cheren," Touya said, rolling his eyes. "Lighten up. Bianca's right. And I'm _not_ just saying that because I volunteered not to get one," he added, staring pointedly at Cheren as the other boy opened his mouth in protest. "I just don't think the professor would purposely do this, you know? She's not a bitch or anything, and she _knows_ the four of us are friends. It must have been a mistake."

"She even addressed her note to us," Touko pointed out, remembering the words and the kind, curly handwriting on the card.

"Come on, Cheren! Do you really want one of us to walk out of here without a Pokemon?" Bianca exclaimed, still trembling a little.

Cheren looked back and forth between them. He locked eyes with Bianca, cool navy blue against bright, quivering green, and finally, his thin, tight shoulders sank.

"Well…well…okay," he relented finally, and Touya let out a loud whoop of victory.

"Awesome! Now let's go find good ol' Junipah at the lab!"

He buckled up the box and scooped it up in his long arms with a flourish. Cheren winced at the sound of the Poke Balls rolling around inside the velvet and snapped at Touya several times to be careful not to drop them. As the four of them marched, raced, skipped, and trod down the steps, Touya whistled a tune, Touko tried not to blush everytime their shoulders brushed against each other and wondered what they were going to say to Professor Juniper, Bianca gazed ahead with wide, excited, disbelieving eyes, and Cheren cast worried, skeptical glances at the box every few seconds, thinking. They swung open Touko's front door and stepped outside into the sunlight, which bathed their faces in its all-loving warmth and painted shadows on their illuminated skin, and began heading toward the Nuvema Town Pokemon lab.

As they walked and talked, none of them saw a boy, with long, tea-green hair that swayed and billowed in the wind as if it were a part of the grass around it, tiptoe into the field behind the lab. His pale fingers were curled tightly around something he held in his hand. None of them saw the tears that streamed down his cheeks, glistening in the morning sunlight. None of them noticed the peculiar way in which he walked: slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, his free hand fiddling with the baseball cap perched on his head, a stark contrast of black and white. But his steps were short and uneven, as if he hadn't yet quite mastered the art of walking.

When he was a safe distance from the building, the boy knelt down in the grass and dropped a single Poke Ball on the ground. A flash of barely visible light erupted from the crack, and then something dark and furry slinked out from inside it, a tail drawing invisible question marks in the air.

As the Pokemon emerged, the boy curled his arms around his knees, and then he buried his face in the fabric of his pants and cried freely, his shoulders shaking with every sob. Tendrils of green hair cascaded over his head and brushed the Pokemon's face, and, unsure of what to do, it leaned back on its haunches and stared up at him with wide, concerned eyes.

"They're gone," the boy whispered, lifting his head to reveal a pair of wide, glittering blue eyes. "They're gone. I made them go away. You don't have to stay in there anymore. You…you can be free now."

A tear landed on the Pokemon's fur, and it jumped on its paws, tail coiling in alarm.

"Go ahead," the boy urged, pointing into the distance, the morning sun kissing the tips of the grass with gold, the Patrat and Lillupup scampering around in the underbrush. "Go. You can run away if you want."

The Pokemon twitched its tail back and forth, but it didn't move. Seconds passed, and still, it stayed put on the carpet of grass, its eyes fixed on the man's as if drawn by a magnetic pull.

"Or…or you can stay with me, too, if you want. But I won't make you." A curious light flickered in the boy's eyes, and he slowly reached out his finger toward the Pokemon. "And we can be…friends."

The Pokemon stared at the ivory skin of his finger, the thin red line that trailed across it as if it had been sketched there by a delicate, meticulous pencil, and slowly, tentatively, it reached its paw forward to touch his hand, a mutual handshake. The boy's eyes widened, and a small smile spread across his face, shining through his tears.

Some things didn't need to be spoken, he knew.

"I only wish I could have saved your friends, too," he murmured, and then he bent down and picked up the Pokemon, which let out a surprised yowl as it leaned into his shoulder and then sank down, fur soft against the white fabric of his shirt. Cradling it in his arms, the boy—the man, really—stood up and begin walking along the route, his ponytail swishing behind him with every step, dust swirling around his shoes. And as the four teenagers walked inside the doors of the lab, none them saw him disappear into the distance, a faded green silhouette against the Castelia skyline, a mistake, one that might as well never have been there to begin with.

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><p><em>Author's Note:<em>

I hope you liked it! :) Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. I Am Number Four

**Chapter Two: I Am Number Four**

Professor Aurea Juniper had been bending over an incubator, squinting at an egg inside the fogged glass, when the knock sounded on the door of the lab.

At first, she hardly heard it, brushing it aside as she jotted down another note on her clipboard. Green spots dappled the egg's surface, which was perfectly normal, since every Pokemon egg had a different pattern, but the sickly green tint that shaded its shell as a whole was not, nor was its soft, moist texture or the spongy pores that littered its surface. Eggs didn't breathe, of course, but she could almost picture the shallow inhales and exhales of the poor thing before her, the creature inside it drawing wet, ragged breaths as the eggshell pulsed weakly in tempo. Something had clearly infected the Pokemon inside the egg, warping it with disease, but somehow, it was still alive. For now.

Professor Juniper frowned. Could she still save the poor thing, or was it foolish to even hope so?

The knock rang out again, more curt this time, but polite. Still, it was enough to jar the professor out of her concentration, and she frowned, irritated. This wasn't the time for visitors; the poor Pokemon needed her help. But she knew the egg could wait. The incubator would keep it alive for at least another day. The professor turned, her lab coat sweeping around her legs as she set the clipboard on the lab bench and jammed her pencil into her ponytail.

"Coming!" she called, pacing quickly past the rows of lab benches and equipment.

As she neared the door of the lab, she could feel the warmth of the sun streaming in through the windows and painting the floor through the soles of her sneakers. Nuvema Town was always gorgeous at this time of year. What a beautiful spring day, she thought as she flung open the door.

Before she could even recollect her thoughts, in trampled Touko White, her ponytail bouncing and combat boots thumping against the floor, Touya Black, hoisting something heavy in his arms, Bianca Bellamy, pushing her hat up over her bob of blond hair and staring around the lab with wide eyes, and finally Cheren Shiroyama, who turned and shut the door behind him as he followed in after his friends.

"Oh, hi guys! Come on in!" Professor Juniper exclaimed, jumping back to welcome them in. "I've been waiting for you young people!" She cast a quick glance at the clock on the wall, its ticks ringing out through the metallic room, and a warm rush of excitement settled in the pit of her stomach. It was almost ten thirty; the four of them would have gotten their Pokemon hours ago. It was about time.

"Hi, Professor," Cheren greeted her with a polite nod, tugging at the collar of his jacket and squinting at the glare that the sun cast off the lenses of his glasses. "How are you?"

"I'm doing great! How about you?" Professor Juniper answered, beaming. "Not that I don't know, of course. You guys are here to ask about your Pokemon, aren't you?"

A strange pause followed, so quick that Professor Juniper could easily have missed it if it weren't for the buzzing of the lab that filled the otherwise empty silence. She looked form one face to the other; Touko was turning over her shoulder to look at Touya, who shrugged helplessly, or tried to shrug as well as he could with whatever it was that he was holding in his arms. Professor Juniper peered at him, trying to tell what it was—it looked like some kind of box—but she couldn't see past the blue sleeves of his jacket. Bianca let out something that sounded like a cross between a peep and a whimper, and then quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Something strange was going on here. Professor Juniper frowned. She could feel it in the air that permeated the lab, could see it in their faces, in the way the four of them hesitated and looked at each other for a millisecond with pleading eyes before speaking.

Finally, Cheren was the one who spoke up. "Er—yes, actually," he said, pushing up his glasses. "We just had a question about…"

"But first off, thank you so much, Professor!" Touko interrupted, clapping her hands. Her ponytail bounced as she spoke, blue eyes glittering like mirror images of her mother's. She had certainly inherited Cornelia White's enthusiasm, too, the professor noted with a wry smile. "I mean, I can't believe you and my mom managed to pull off a surprise like that without us finding out! Seriously, I woke up and they were just there and—thanks! That was so nice of you, I couldn't believe it!" Out of the corner of her eye, Professor Juniper saw Cheren let out what sounded like an exasperated sigh under his breath and fall silent.

Professor Juniper smiled back at her. Whatever was going on, this was more important. When she had first signed up for this job, courtesy of her father, she hadn't been expecting to work with teenagers, but really, this was one of the best parts of being a Pokemon professor. "You're very welcome, Touko. Your mom and I have actually been talking for a while about how it's about time that the four of you got your first Pokemon. For Mew's sake, you're already, what…fifteen? Sixteen?"

"I'm seventeen," Cheren corrected matter-of-factly. Behind him, Touya let out a poorly muffled snort and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, definitely old enough to get your first Pokemon!" Professor Juniper said, nodding. "You know, I remember when the four of you were just toddlers, and you used to sneak into the lab and try to get a look at the Pokemon in here…you've all grown so much!" She clapped her hands together as the four of them grinned sheepishly. Enough reminiscing; it was time for business. Arceus knew they had waited too long for this day. "So, are you ready to register them?"

Three pairs of eyes stared blankly back at her. The fourth flickered with anticipation, flinty and eager behind the lenses of his glasses.

"You mean in the Pokedexes?" Cheren asked.

"I'm astonished. Nice work, Cheren! You've already studied Pokemon extensively, haven't you?" Of course he had. Cheren Shiroyama, Professor Juniper decided, was the kind of person who, had you even mentioned the word to him, would have read about the extensive history of Casteliacones, recited it to you, and memorized each of the ingredients. But actually making one was a different story altogether, and she had yet to see how he would do in that respect… "Still, let me explain everything from the beginning, for everyone's sake. The Pokedex is a high-tech device that automatically records the Pokemon you encounter! So, now that you each have your Pokemon, I want you four to visit many places and meet all of the Pokemon in the Unova region! That's my request for you."

"Okay!" Bianca blurted immediately, her voice ringing through the lab. She cleared her throat. "I mean…yes, Professor!"

"Wow, we get Pokedexes?" Touko whispered excitedly, turning toward her friend. The sound echoed through the room, bouncing off the smooth, metallic walls. "You know who had one? Red. From Kanto."

"Oh my gosh, Red?" Bianca whispered back, her eyes lighting up. "Oh gosh, Touko, we get to be like Red!"

"Or Blue," Touko pointed out. "He's hotter."

"No, I like Red more! I mean, he's the Champion!"

"Yeah, but Blue is the badass rival who—"

"Shhh," Professor Juniper shushed them, though she couldn't keep herself from smiling. They had a right to be excited, after all. This was their big day! "So, who's ready to register their Pokemon in the Pokedex?"

"Yeah!" Touya cried—and then stopped, as Cheren grabbed his arm and whispered furiously in his ear. His face fell. "Oh. Right."

"Actually, Professor…" Cheren spoke up again, pushing his glasses up. "Before we get our Pokedexes, we have a question for you."

Here it was again. Something wasn't right, and it was bothering the four of them. Professor Juniper nodded, studying him intently. Not that Cheren Shiroyama's face would betray much, if anything, she knew; his face was a careful mask of logic and facts, pale and cool and composed, not built to exude his every emotion. Unlike Bianca's, whose eyes were already huge and oozing worry next to him.

"Yes? You can ask me whatever you want."

"Well, with all due respect, we were wondering if…"

He grimaced and broke off, throwing a pointed glance toward Touko and Bianca. Bianca didn't notice, still staring at the professor with awe-struck eyes, but Touko caught his eye and bit her lip, suddenly looking nervous.

"Um, right. Yeah. Well, not that we're not grateful for the Pokemon and all, because we really, really are, but we just wanted to ask if…if…"

"If…" Professor Juniper prompted, waving her hand. With every word, worry was mounting and churning inside her stomach as well. Was there something wrong with the Pokemon? But there couldn't be! She had spent weeks poring over these particular ones, choosing exactly which to give to the four teenagers. What could it be, then? "What is it, Purrloin got your tongue?"

Touko shook her head and edged closer to Bianca, who leaned over and whispered something in her ear. From behind her, the professor heard Cheren mutter, "Touya…" as he elbowed the other boy softly in the side. "Remember…"

"Remember what?" A sheepish smile spread across Touya's face. "Oh! Right."

Professor Juniper watched curiously as, brown hair flaring out from his head, he stumbled up to her and tipped forward so that she could see inside what he was clutching in his arms. She leaned forward, hand on her chin. It was a box, a blue box, compact and innocuous enough, its insides blanketed with velveteen green—the same box, she realized with a start, that she had placed in Touko's room only hours earlier.

"Well, Professor," Touya said, stealing a glance up at her, "we were just wondering if you meant to do _this_."

Professor Juniper squinted into the box. Sure enough, inside lay three Poke Balls, nestled within the green fabric, the sun's rays throwing a tinge of gold onto the red and white. Professor Juniper studied them carefully, feeling the worry dissipate from her stomach as she saw that, at least from the outside, they looked as neat and unsullied as she had left them this morning. There were no cracks or blemishes on their surfaces, and as far as she could tell, it didn't look like any of the Pokemon had been harmed. Relief washed over her, and she narrowed her eyes.

Only then did it hit her what was off about them.

"Where's the fourth one?"

Touya's head snapped up, a strange light flickering on in his eyes.

"Wait…fourth?"

Professor Juniper stepped back from the box, chuckling. "Well, of course! You didn't think I would give the four of you _three_ Pokemon to divide up amongst yourselves, did you?"

Touko blinked, her jaw hanging slightly open, his arms slackening around the case. "But Professor…that's what you _did_."

"I…did? What are you talking about?" Alarmed, the professor stared back at him, searching his face. Touya was a joker, she knew, but now, there were no signs of mirth in his eyes, no "gotcha" grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. What was going on? The others looked equally serious; Touko was twirling a strand of curly hair obsessively around her finger, and Cheren had pressed his lips into a firm, thin line. "But that's not possible! I picked out four Pokemon put them in the box this morning. How could there only be three?"

"I don't know, Professor, I dug around the box a little, but…nothing came up." Cheren looked genuinely guilty.

"Could it have been stolen, Professor?" Touko piped up. "I mean, maybe if you left the box in the lab or outside for a bit, maybe someone could have come along and…" Her voice trailed off.

"Stolen?" A squeak rang out, and Bianca pressed her hands to her mouth. "There are _thieves_ in Nuvema Town? But—but how did they get here? And the poor Pokemon! It must be so scared!"

Professor Juniper frowned, racking her memory. "I had the Poke Balls inside the storage cabinet here, and I only went outside for a second," she said. Yes, Cornelia had stopped by to check on the Pokemon, she remembered, and she had run outside to greet her, but that had only taken a minute. "I suppose someone could have snuck in then…but it's so unlikely. The lab is kept under top security at all times, and I had the Poke Balls in the very back of the room. The Pokemon should have reacted and sounded the alarm, at least. They don't like intruders."

"Besides, this isn't like—like inner Castelia or anything!" Touya exclaimed. "This is Nuvema Town, for Mew's sake! It's only the safest town in all of Unova."

"Seriously, what are the chances?" Cheren agreed, shaking his head. "Today of all days?"

"Unless the thief was _after_ our Pokemon!" Bianca gasped. "Maybe they knew that we were going to get them, and they came just to take them…"

Cheren turned toward her, eyes sharp and discerning. "What do you mean, Bianca? How would they have known?"

"I—well, I mean, I'm not a criminal, and I dunno how they think," she stammered, stepping back, "but somehow they must have, and then they came just for our Pokemon!"

"But I don't see why—"

"Okay, okay, guys, stop." Professor Juniper interrupted, holding up her hands. They stopped at the uncharacteristically brisk, businesslike tone of the normally cheerful professor's voice. "Just stop. First of all. There's no need to panic—well, maybe there is, but it isn't going to help at all if we do. And second of all, let's make sure we get the facts straight. Number one: you're absolutely sure that none of you saw a fourth Poke Ball in the box?"

"Nope." Touya shook his head and set the box down on one of the lab benches next to him, shaggy hair swinging across his forehead. "There were definitely only three."

"Okay…" Professor Juniper nodded thoughtfully. "Got it. Number two: did you guys see any signs of a struggle, anything that might have indicated that the box had been opened?"

There was a pause, and then Touko spoke up, her voice shaky and uncertain.

"I—I mean, the ribbon seemed a little loose, but that's all." She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "That's kind of lame, though."

"Well, if it's what we got, it's what we got. And, last but not least…" Professor Juniper faced them, green eyes curious. "Did all of you by any chance release any of the Pokemon out of their Poke Balls, or did you come to me right when you saw that there was one missing? Do you know which one is missing?"

The four of them looked at each other and then shook their heads.

"We came right away, Professor," Touya told her, "after we noticed that there were only three Poke Balls."

"We didn't know if it would be rude to ask…" Bianca added tentatively.

Professor Juniper nodded. "Don't worry, guys, I'm glad you came. Well, that'll be my job to find out, then. I'll have to file a police report, too."

She turned and picked up the box that Touya had placed on the table, juggling it in her arms. The few loose locks of brown hair that hung down from her bun swung around the nape of her neck as she walked back toward the lab bench and set it down on the table next to the clipboard she had dropped only minutes ago. She frowned over the few quick notes she had made, remembering the sickly Egg she had promised herself she would take care of that morning. There were so many things she had to deal with, and so many things she had never been _prepared_ to deal with. She had spent her years studying bacteria and viruses, memorizing the organ systems of different Pokemon and how they functioned and all of the things that could go wrong with their health. She hadn't been expecting _this_.

"I'm really sorry about how this day turned out, guys," she sighed, propping her chin on her hand. "I know you must have been really excited to get your Pokemon, and Touko's mom and I were really excited for you, too, and it's really not fair that this is the way it ended up. But I'll do everything I can to help you get that Pokemon back, I promise."

"It's not your fault, Professor!" Bianca exclaimed, shaking her head. Her blond hair bobbed around her shoulders. "Really, don't even say that!"

"We'll help you all we can!" Touko agreed. She looked around, blue eyes determined. "I mean…we'll get that thief, won't we, guys?"

"Damn straight we will," Touya snarled.

Professor Juniper tried her best to smile at them, though the expression emerged as more of a grimace than anything. "Thanks, I appreciate that, guys. In the meantime, I'll try to sort this out, and I'll make sure to keep an eye on the lab," she said firmly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She frowned and threw a glance at the clock; it was almost eleven, but there was no point in having the four of them loiter around here while everything got sorted out as best as it could. What a mess. How could they have come all the way here? It was supposed to be one of the best days of their lives, if she could say so herself, and now it had all gone to pieces. "Why don't you four go home first? I don't want you to have to wait around here while all of this business gets done. I'll make sure to give you a call when I have some news, though."

Touko opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, and then closed it. "But—okay, Professor."

"Thanks," Cheren said, stopping, as the others turned toward the door of the lab. "For everything."

Jaws slightly ajar, eyes slack with disappointment, the four of them nodded in turn, muttered quick thank-you-goodbye-Professor-see-you-laters, and trudged out the door together, back out the way they came.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes later, the call still hadn't come. Mrs. White had already arrived home from her appointment, since apparently the professor had called her as well, flinging her bag and coat on the kitchen table and rushing up to Touko's room where the four of them were gathered. She had hugged her daughter and her three friends and swore to them that she would get their Pokemon back, along with promising to do all manner of rude things to that thief once she got her hands on him (with a display of colorful language that had even made <em>Touya<em> blush and Touko gape at her and exclaim "_Mom!_", even though she was secretly proud). Then, minutes later, she had run off to the lab, where she was now conversing furiously with Professor Juniper and the town police, who really had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. After all, their worst jobs usually came down to rescuing the occasional Patrat from a tree or calming down and dispersing a flock of enraged Pidove—which had actually happened once when the four of them had been in fifth grade, due to some sort of accident involving a science fair project and a can of Coba Berry spray.

Which left the four teenagers brooding and pacing around in Touko's room, Cheren's feet practically wearing a groove in her carpet, Bianca attempting to chew all ten fingers of her nail polish off. Touya lay slumped over the table, repeatedly clicking the mouse of Touko's computer with his chin sunken into his other arm. Her computer wasn't even on.

"I can't believe this," Cheren said, his voice clipped and wound as tightly as a wire as he started on what had to be his fortieth lap around the perimeter of her room. "Of all the days when there just happens to be a Pokemon thief around Nuvema Town—_the_ town in Unova with the number one lowest crime rates, if I may remind you—it just so happens to be the day when we were supposed to receive our own. What a bother."

"Hey, I said that first," Touya deadpanned, his voice muffled through his sleeve. He let out a moan through his arm, which was currently pressed against his face, his brown hair fanning out from his forehead. Touko's fingers itched with the desire to stroke it—but no, this wasn't the time for that. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, angry at herself for letting her thoughts wander in that direction. This was a crisis, for Mew's sake. "Well, this day's gone to hell."

Cheren ignored him as he passed by Touko, who was sitting on her bed, and nearly walked straight into the leg she was kicking back and forth against the bedframe. He dodged her swiftly, his skinny knees buckling, and righted himself before walking on. "You know, I'm starting to think that there really might be something going on here. It _is_ a bizarre coincidence. I mean, if you think about it, not that many people in Nuvema Town have their own Pokemon, and I suppose this was a big event for the people who knew about it, so it could have been something a Pokemon thief would target…"

"See, I told you!" Bianca piped up, yanking her fingernails out of her mouth and jabbing a finger in the air. "I _knew_ you'd agree with me, Cheren! It's just too weird to be a coincidence!"

"I didn't say I _agreed_ with you, exactly," Cheren corrected. Bianca mock pouted, sticking her tongue out at him, and then started munching on her fingernails again before Touko leaned over and plucked her hand out of her mouth.

"Don't do that. You'll ruin your nail polish, and it's such a pretty color!"

Bianca looked down at the shimmering crescents of orange, which were now chipped on two of her fingers and flaking away in tiny flecks at the edges, and scrunched her face up into a frown.

"Aw, thanks, Touko! You're right! You're such a great friend!"

"No problem at all, dear, I'm here to save you from all your demons."

Bianca dropped her hands on her lap and kicked her feet in frustration, letting out a loud thump against the wooden bed. "Ugh! But now I, like, can't do anything to de-stress! This is really bad, guys, I don't even know what to do!"

Touya looked over his shoulder, grinning. "You should really try this repetitively-clicking-Touko's-mouse thing. It does wonders for your wrist, especially in this day and age when people get carpal tunnel syndrome and things like that all the ti—"

"_Anyway_," Cheren interrupted, shooting them all exasperated looks, albeit loving ones. Not that he wasn't used to it by now. He stopped pacing and stared up at Touko's ceiling, fingers stroking his chin so intently it was as if he expected himself, with barely a speck of stubble anywhere on his smooth, pale skin to brag about, to spontaneously sprout a beard. "What I was saying was, I'm starting to think something might be up. Pokemon thieves are common, but not in this part of the region, like we've all said. But…assuming that Bianca's theory is correct and the thieves deliberately decided to steal our Pokemon, I just don't know how they would have known about it, since Professor Juniper and Touko's mom were clearly doing such a good job at keeping it a secret."

"Well, Cheren, there are ways to find out secrets," Touko pointed out. "The Pokemon had to come from somewhere, right? It's not like Professor Juniper just goes out and catches starters on a whim, does she? Maybe the thief could have hijacked the Pokemon delivery service or something…"

"Yeah, the starters are all pretty rare Pokemon," he agreed, nodding. "That's true. And also," he added, "why wouldn't they have just taken all of them?"

"Too hard to carry?" Touya offered, rubbing his shoulders. "Trust me, that box was heavy. He—or she, whoever it was—probably just ran into the lab and snatched the first thing he could before he heard Professor Juniper coming back."

"Hey, I don't know about you guys, but I'm just glad he only got one of them!" Bianca exclaimed, her eyes widening into twin emerald orbs. Touko could tell that her best friend was starting to stutter, the way she always did when she got excited. "I mean, the poor Pokemon! Just think about it—it must b-be so lost and alone and _scared_ right now! What kind of person would even _do_ that?"

"A total jackass?" Touko offered. Touya nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, and we'll get whoever it was! I swear we will!"

Cheren rolled his eyes at the dramatic exclamation, but Touko could see that frankly, he was just as upset, his fingers clenching and unclenching as he started up his pacing again. She leaned back on her bed, bushy brown ponytail fanning out around her head, curls and knobs thick and heavy against the back of her black vest.

"I wonder which Pokemon is missing," she mused, her voice escaping her in a breathy sigh. "And which Pokemon are in there right now."

"Yeah, but I guess now we'll never know," Touya grumbled, and resumed his aimless clicking.

"We'll know about three of them," Bianca said sadly, "but the last one…"

But they never did find out what Bianca was going to say about the last one, because right at that moment, Touko's Xtransceiver let out a shrill ring from her desk, blasting out the latest hit single from Vanilluxe Deluxe. She grabbed it off the table so fast that it sent her papers flying off her desk. His hand leaping off her mouse, Touya bent down to pick them up just as Professor Juniper and her mom's faces materialized on the screen, both of them flushed and looking very worried. Touko could hear voices murmuring in the background.

"Hello?"

"Touko! We have some news!" the professor blurted, her bun nearly unraveling out of its elastic. Bits of unkempt golden-brown hair dangled in front of her eyes, and she hurriedly brushed them aside. "Come over to the lab, as soon as you can!"

"Hurry up, honey!" her mom exclaimed from next to Professor Juniper.

"Ahhh, thank you! Finally! I'll be right there! Thanks!" Cheren and Bianca hadn't even made it to the desk when Touko hung up, and they didn't need to be told a second time. The four of them were on their feet in an instant, tripping over each other and practically knocking each other over on their way out the door.

* * *

><p>"A green-haired man?"<p>

Touko held back a giggle at Touya's snort, his arms crossed as he stared at the two police officers standing with Professor Juniper and her mom just outside the lab. The officers—one tall, dark-skinned woman and one stout, heavyset man—tipped their heads toward the teenagers, pens poised over notepads they were holding in their hands. Next to the two of them stood a rather pudgy man who was happily chewing on a piece of gum and staring at the four teenagers with a vacant smile. She had seen him around town from time to time, standing outside and staring up at the sky with an awed, sleepy sort of grin.

"Sorry to hear about your Pokemon," one of the officers said, offering an apologetic grimace at the four of them.

"Thank you," Cheren answered, tipping his head back.

"Wait wait wait a minute. A green-haired man?" Touya repeated, an impish grin grazing his lips. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Touya! Be polite!" Bianca hissed, but a giggle leaked out from her voice. She clamped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed.

"Unfortunately not," said the other officer, pressing her lips together. "This man here"—she nodded toward the pudgy man, who nodded his head at them in greeting—"says he saw a suspicious-looking man with green hair around the premises around the predicted time of the theft."

"Awfully sorry about your Pokemon," the man said, loudly smacking his gum. Touko saw Cheren wince at the noise.

"Thanks, we are too," he said, grimacing and rubbing his ear.

"I'm sorry, but…what kind of person walks around the streets with _green_ hair?" Touya asked, still grinning. "Are you sure that's what you saw? You sure it wasn't just tall grass, or a tree, or something?"

The man frowned at him. "Of course I'm sure!" he insisted. "I saw him with my very own eyes!"

"Er, yes, and we're very grateful for your witness account, sir," the officer said quickly. Professor Juniper shot a pointed look at Touya from next to her. "Of course we believe you. Now, would you care to tell these children what you saw?"

"Why, of course! I'd be glad to!" the man exclaimed, his face brightening. He crossed his arms and turned toward them, and Touya fell silent, curiosity brimming in his eyes and replacing his mirth. The four of them stared at him, waiting.

"Well," the man began, "I don't really know here to start, but I guess I'll just start from the beginning." He cleared his throat and gave his gum one last good chew, as if savoring its taste before launching into his important speech. Touko leaned forward eagerly. "I was just taking my morning stroll around town, and then I saw this weird fellow walking behind the lab. He caught my attention, because he didn't look like everyone else—he was real tall, real pale, skinny, and he had this long, flowy hair, and, I'm telling you, it was _green_. Green as the grass around him. Actually, it was exactly like this young lad here said—I would've mistaken him for a tree if he hadn't _moved_."

"Trees can move. Maybe it was a Sudowoodo," Touya whispered. Touko giggled.

"Anyway," the man continued, "so I stopped going on my usual way and sort of followed him behind the lab, and he sat down on the grass, and I didn't want to get too close to him in case he figured out I was watching him, you know, and he was kind of suspicious, so I didn't know what he was up to. So I was still near the lab, near the building, and I was standing and watching him from there, so I couldn't see too clearly, and there was all his _hair_ getting in the way—it was real bushy, too, this green hair, swirling all around him in the wind. Kind of distracting. Besides, his back was to me, so I couldn't see very well at all. But anyway, I could see enough to know that he wasn't from around here, and he looked kind of suspicious, so I kept my eyes on him, and I kept watching him from the lab, and he went in the field behind the lab and sat down on the grass.

"Well, he sat there for a while, and I almost left him here where he was, thought he might just be relaxing and enjoying the scenery, you know, just stopping by, and I almost kept going on my way. But then finally he moved, and then I realized he was holding something in his hand, something red—it was shiny in the sunlight, you see, or I wouldn't have seen it otherwise—so I stayed, because I thought maybe it was a ruby or a jewel or something like that, and maybe this guy was a jewel thief, so I kept watching him. But then the thing he was holding suddenly let out this great big _flash_, and then next thing I knew, there was a Pokemon sitting in front of him, and so I knew it was a Poke Ball he was holding."

The man broke off, suddenly, a dreamy look settling over his face. "Man, it's great, what technology can do, isn't it? Poke Balls were invented such a long time ago, but look at all the things they can do! Can you believe that we can carry around these creatures, these amazing Pokemon, all inside the one little capsule of a—"

"Yes, yes, thank you, mister," the officer interrupted. "It is, it's amazing, and I'm sure Professor Juniper would love to tell you all about it. Some other time, though. For now, please keep on telling your story. We all want to hear what you saw."

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry," the man said sheepishly. He tapped a finger on his chin. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, right! So the man was sitting there, and there was what I was pretty sure a Pokemon in front of him—it was small and dark, I couldn't make out much more than that from where I was standing—and then he suddenly leaned down and picked it up in his arms—didn't put it back in its Poke Ball or anything, just walked away with it, which is weird, I know, especially in this area when you don't see many Pokemon walking around like that—and started walking away. Well, I saw that he was going in my direction, and I didn't want him to know that I'd been watching him this whole time, in case he was dangerous, you know, so I walked away

But let me just tell you—whoever it was, it definitely wasn't a normal guy who was walking around here, and I knew that even before I found out that one of your Pokemon had been stolen. It wasn't a normal sight, with all that green hair swishing around his shoulders, and how tall and pale he was, and the sun all over him, and the way he walked—it was—you know, out of lack of a better word…it was beautiful, really."

Silence followed the man's words, draping over their shoulders, and Touko tried to imagine what the person he was describing would look like—tall, pale, with skin that looked as if it had been sculpted from marble, blue veins running rivers down his wrists. She pictured the sun grazing his head, kissing his forehead, pictured the watery blue eyes full of light, the glowing green, like a reflection of the grass around him…

"But anyway, technology is wonderful!" the man shouted suddenly, waving his arms in the air and jolting her out of her thoughts. "Would you believe all the things you can do nowadays? If I had had a camera on me, I could have recorded what that man was doing! I could have shown you exactly what I saw with my own eyes! I could have shown you his face!" His face fell. "…but I didn't have one."

The officers blinked at him, pens frozen over their notepads.

"Er…yes, thank you, mister," the woman said. She turned back toward Touko, Touya, Bianca, and Cheren, making a note on the paper in front of her. "So does this man—this tall, thin, pale, green-haired man—sound familiar to any of you? Have any of you seen or heard of anyone like that?"

Touko shook her head and heard the unanimous hum of a "no" next to her.

"We've never heard of someone like that, officer."

"Wait, _what_?" the man squawked, his jaw dropping as he stared at the four of them. "So you're saying I did all that talking for nothing?"

"Not at all, sir," the male officer spoke up quickly. "What you said was of tremendous help, actually. Now we have an accurate picture of what the thief—if it was the man you described—looked like, which will definitely help us find him."

"Well, of course it was," the man said, looking satisfied and smacking his piece of gum again. "I saw what I saw, and I know it."

"Well…thank you, sir." The officer tipped his hat back at him, not missing a beat. "Feel free to head along on your way now. We'll make sure to let you know what comes of this case. Thanks for all your help!"

"Anytime, good sir!" the man said jovially. "You know, now that you mention it, I'd love to take a look at your police gadgets, too! I mean, if we could look at them now, I have a few hours to kill, actually—" But his face fell as the officer shook his head and waved at him, and he sighed and continued along his way, past the lab and toward the main road. Touko watched him leave with a half-smile.

The other officer, for her part, turned toward Touko and her friends. She smiled apologetically, her eyes softening at the sight of their confusion—or that was what Touko assumed it was, at least, if they looked more or less how she felt.

"Why don't you kids go back with the Professor?" she suggested. "I know this has been a hard day. Thanks for all your help! We'll do our best to find your Pokemon, and protect Nuvema Town as a whole from these thieves."

"Thanks," Cheren said, nodding politely. "We appreciate it."

"Thank you so much!" Bianca waved over her shoulder as the four of them followed after Professor Juniper's bobbing bun. Mrs. White waved at them and stayed behind to talk some more with the officers.

"Okay, I'm sorry for making you guys wait for so long," the professor apologized as she tugged open the door to let them back into the lab, looking more than a little frazzled. She pushed her now frizzy clumps of brown hair behind her ears and shook out her bun. Touko frowned. Poor Professor Juniper. She didn't deserve this any more than they did. "And all for nothing, too. I guess we didn't find out much, since none of you seemed to know the thief…and the man didn't know where he was going…" She sighed. "I'm sorry for wasting your time with all of that."

"No, Professor, not at all! We found out a lot!" Bianca exclaimed hurriedly. "Now we know what he looks like!"

"_And_ we found out he has green hair," Touya pointed out slyly.

"The town officers are going to get in touch with the larger squad in Castelia, and they're going to send out parties to search for the man…but I'm afraid I can't promise too much," Professor Juniper continued, yanking her hair back up in a futile attempt to force it into its original bun. Her hair seemed to have lost as much of its spirit as the rest of them, and so she gave up and let it fan back around her shoulders. "Stolen Pokemon are a pretty common occurrence, and I don't know how quickly they'll get to yours if they have hundreds of other cases, some of them a lot more serious." She sighed. "I'm really sorry, guys, but I guess you'll just have to wait until then…"

A horrible pause settled over them as the meaning of her words sank in. _Wait until then_… But no! Touko shook her head. That meant no Pokemon, no journeys, no glorious dreams of adventuring. That meant no bonding with her best friends as they traversed routes and bridges and sea and sky, no finding and catching awesome creatures who would become her lifelong friends as well! (Or at least, that was how the story went in the old legends of Kanto and Johto that Unovan kids had been told since they were babies. That was all they had to go off of, really.) That meant they would all be stuck in tiny, boring old Nuvema Town indefinitely, possibly forever…

"No, Professor!"

Surprised, Touko turned toward the source of the cry—and found Touya shaking his head at the professor, practically bouncing on his toes with indignation.

"I have an idea! A better idea!" he exclaimed, his eyes glittering.

Professor Juniper raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really, Touya? What's your idea?"

Touya looked around at the others, the beginning of a familiar mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"What if we all go…look for him?"

All traces of the professor's smile disappeared, and she stared at him with eyes full of disbelief.

"What? Touya—that's—that's—I don't even—"

Touya held up his hands. "Okay, okay, first of all, before you say anything, I'm sure everyone else will agree with this, too," he interrupted, and then winked at the others. "Right? I have faith in you guys."

"Well, you're going to have to make a good case for it…" Cheren muttered.

Touya raised a hand to his heart in mock injury. "Geez, Cheren, do you really have so little faith in me? But fine, if you insist, no problemo. So." He faced his three friends and the professor, sucking in his breath. "I think that there's really no point for all of us to wait here, if there are any Pokemon here at _all_. Which there are—three of them, in fact. Three of us could each get one, and we could start out after the thief and get the fourth Pokemon back for the fourth one of us. I think the police could always use a little bit of help in catching criminals, right?" He glanced around the circle, grinning. "So, what's not to love about that?"

"I can think of several." Professor Juniper held up her fingers. "First of all, it violates the law—it's the police's lawful job to catch criminals, not the everyday citizen's. Secondly, that could potentially be dangerous, since we don't know who this thief is and where he's coming from, and he could very well belong to some kind of criminal organization, and as mature and ready for this as you all are, the four of you are still _teenagers_. Third of all, where would you even look? We know next to nothing about him, except that yes, he looks bizarre, apparently…"

"Yeah, we could be—what do you call it—vigilantes!" Touya exclaimed. Professor Juniper's warnings were doing nothing to deter him from his plan; if anything, they were only making him more and more excited at the prospect of it. "Fight crime on our own! Bring him to justice! And get _our_ Pokemon—Pokemon that rightfully belong to _us_—back!" He struck a dramatic pose, punching his fist in the air.

Professor Juniper shook her head ruefully. "I know you guys were really excited about this, and I know how hard it is to wait around for something as exciting as getting your first Pokemon after something like this happens, but…honestly. It's dangerous, and it's reckless, and there's little chance that it could succeed. The police will do their best job, and we'll just have to wait, as hard as it may be."

"Actually, I don't think there are any laws against it," a level, matter-of-fact voice spoke up. Touko turned, hardly believing what she was hearing. _Cheren_, smart, polite, _law-abiding_ Cheren of all people, was supporting this crazy plan? As far as she knew, he and Touya hardly ever agreed on anything, much less anything that involved going against authority and taking unnecessary risks. Well, wasn't this day just full of surprises? "Yes, it is the police's job to catch criminals," he went on, "but there aren't technically any laws, as far as I know, that keep other people from helping them in _doing_ that task. In fact, it's encouraged for citizens to aid officers in catching criminals—obviously. So I think we'd actually be _following_ the law, if anything."

She saw Touya's eyes widen first with surprise, and then with triumph, clapping Cheren on the back. "Aw, yes! I knew you'd come around, Cher-bear!"

Cheren scowled at him and nudged his hand away. "Call me that again and I'll find a all the ways I can to prove that you're wrong—"

"That is a good point, Cheren," Professor Juniper broke in thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose you wouldn't be breaking any laws. But still, it's dangerous to go after a criminal, and I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to let you to get into a situation like that…"

"We'd have Pokemon to protect us, though!" Bianca piped up, pointing at the box that was still lying on the table. "They could take care of us!" She hesitated. "I mean—I know that whoever it is would have Pokemon, too, but there's three of us! We would stick together and train really really hard so we could beat him, Professor! Really!"

"Hmm…" Even with her head cocked to the side and her fingers cupping her chin, Professor Juniper still looked skeptical.

Touko was thinking, trying to remember what the man who loved technology a bit too much had said. According to him, the thief who had taken their last Pokemon was a guy with long, green hair who looked funny and walked funny and did funny things. But what was the word he had used? Yes, she was sure of it: he had said _beautiful_. _Beautiful_ of all words, to describe a thief…

"Besides, the green-haired guy didn't sound that dangerous, from the way that witness guy described him," she pointed out. "He just sounded weird. Not exactly like the crazy type. I mean, not that you could tell, of course."

"Weird people can be pretty crazy, Touko," Touya quipped, then shook his head, realizing he was arguing against himself. "But that's not the point! Bianca's right. We would catch our own Pokemon as soon as possible, and we could fight him! I dunno about any criminal organization or whatever this guy might belong to, but if we got this guy alone, we could take him, three on one. I don't think there's any way we could lose to that."

Professor Juniper paused. "But you just said three on one…and that means you'd have to each have your own Pokemon," she said slowly. "And…there aren't enough of them, are there?"

"No, there aren't," Touya agreed. "But…and here's the _real_ key to this whole plan…one of us could go a Pokemon, for the good of everyone else." He looked around at the three pairs of stunned eyes that were fixed on him, and cracked a crooked smile. "Right, guys?"

"Would you do that?" Professor Juniper asked tentatively. "Take the chance that…you might be the odd one out, if it means everyone else would have theirs?"

Touya didn't even hesitate. "_I_ would," he said, setting his jaw in a way that Touko found even more attractive than she had previously thought he could get. _Damn_. "Even if I had to go without a Pokemon, I'd do it for everyone else. And…" He looked them in the eyes. "I think I know you three well enough to know that you'd do the same."

The words hung over their heads like a banner, rippling with the wind of the unspoken promises that he had just spoken aloud. Touko felt it across her cheeks, felt it sucking the breath from her lungs, felt her stomach churning with anguish.

"I…" Bianca's voice trembled, faint at first, then gaining strength. Touko stared at her in shock, affection surging through her veins. Shy, sweet Bianca of all people…she _knew_ there was a reason why she loved her so much. "I—I agree with Touya. I would do it. E-even if it was me who would have to go without the Pokemon, I wouldn't want to make everyone wait. I'm in."

Touko saw Touya's face erupt into a smile at the blond girl's statement, and she couldn't hold in her own words any longer.

"Well, if you say so, there's no way I can say no! I'm in, too." She smiled back at Touya, heart lurching at the sight of his face. "Good plan, Touya."

"No problem. Cheren?"

Cheren was still rubbing his chin with his fingers, mouth twisted in thought. Light glinted off the surface of his glasses, contrasting the darkness of his eyes. "Well…yes. Yes, I agree, too. I think it'd be well worth it, even for the person who doesn't get one."

"All right, there's my Cherry!" Touya cheered. He turned back toward the Professor. "Come on…please, Professor? We would be helping the police in going out to look for him, and we'd have Pokemon to protect us! I mean, he has green hair, too! It shouldn't be too hard to find a guy like that in Unova, should it?"

The faintest hint of smile broke across the professor's face. "I don't know, people from Nimbasa City have a pretty bizarre sense of fashion sometimes…"

"What we're saying is, we want to travel, Professor," Cheren spoke up, his eyes serious. "I think all of us would rather start now instead of waiting for the police to take action…even if one of us has to go without a Pokemon. Once we track down the thief and get it back, we'll make sure to catch the fourth person up and help him or her train." He glanced around nervously at the others. "I know it's risky, but I'm okay with it, at least. As long as all of you are."

Touko bit her lip and drunk in his words, turning them over and over again in her mind, like photographs that whirled all too quickly by her until all of their colors blended into a blur. She imagined what it would be like to watch Cheren and Bianca and Touya, especially Touya, with his jokes and his kindness and his shaggy hair, going on without her, if she was the unlucky one. They would each be walking with a loyal Pokemon by his or her side, marching down the long route toward the Championship, their feet skipping across the routes, arms linked around each other's, hair billowing in the wind, the silhouette of the city only steps in front of them, with its steely skyscrapers piercing the sky. Blue, blue so wide that it opened in an expanse above their heads, in an infinity they had yet to explore…

"Yeah," she murmured, nodding. "I'm okay with it."

Bianca was chewing on her lip, tugging at the bottom of her orange vest. "Me too…it'll be horrible for the person who doesn't get a Pokemon, but…I think we should."

"See? I told you they would be," Touya chirped, turning back to the professor.

"Well…well…if you insist." Professor Juniper's throat bobbed as she swallowed, looking from one face to another, her eyes still gleaming with uncertainty. "If all of you agree with that plan, and you're okay with the chance that one of you might not have a Pokemon for a very long time…then I suppose there's nothing I can do to stop you."

"Whoop whoop!" Touya cried, punching his fist in the air. He leaned over and gave Bianca a hug, Cheren a firm clap on the shoulder, and then, before Touko could breathe or even begin to brace herself, wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick squeeze.

Again, she felt her heart seize up, and every muscle in her body tensed up as she broke away. _It doesn't mean anything_, she reminded herself. Best friends hugged each other all the time. Except to her, it clearly, obviously, painfully did.

"I suppose there's nothing we can do but get started, then!" the professor said briskly, thankfully unaware of the turmoil unfolding in Touko's mind. "Well. I have to say that this is different from I had expected it to be, but we'll just have to make do with what we have." She picked up the box and carried it over to the four teenagers, who leaned forward excitedly as she very carefully their gift onto the table. The light caught the surfaces of the three Poke Balls inside as they rolled and turned on their sides, utterly oblivious to the gap in the box that should have held their missing friend.

"I managed to find out which Pokemon are left, and which one is missing. The ones that are left are Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig—a grass type, a water type, and fire type, which I'm sure you've studied in school." They nodded. "Great! And the last one…the one that the thief stole…was a Dark-type Pokemon, called Purrloin, which, thankfully, seems to match with the witness's description of the Pokemon he saw with the thief." She looked up, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "So, if you're really going to go through with this…have you thought about how you're going to decide who gets which one?"

The answer hit Touko in a flash.

"Let the Pokemon choose!"

Cheren looked at her, impressed (a moment that Touko relished, since hardly anyone ever won that kind of approval from him). "That's a good idea. That way, it'll be as fair as possible, and no one can complain."

"Aww, Touko!" She smelled the milky scent of flowers as Bianca flung her arms around her shoulders. "You're so sweet! Thinking of the Pokemon first! You and Touya are really on a roll today!"

"I know, right?" Touya grinned. "Way to go."

Professor Juniper nodded, smiling. "I like it. Good thinking, Touko. But just remember"—and here her voice took on a serious tone—"there's no going back from here, if the Pokemon have already chosen and bonded to their trainers. They would be yours from then on, your partners, willing to work and do anything with you, the same way you would for them. The attachment is mutual, and is perhaps even stronger on their part. You need to be sure that this is what you want. There's no going back after I let the Pokemon out."

Touko could practically hear her pulse pounding through her veins as she exchanged a quick glance with the others, and then turned back forward and nodded.

"All right, then." Professor Juniper inclined her head back at them. "Then we'll begin."

Touko's heart hammered against her ribs as the professor reached into the box and drew one Poke Ball from the velveteen green inside. White gleamed against the white of the lab, then a flash of red, as Professor Juniper let the Poke Ball fall to the ground.

A flash of light made the four of them scramble to cover their eyes, and then, when Touko blinked, she saw.

The first Pokemon that sprang out was green and slender, with leaflike limbs that snaked away from its scaly body, a tail shaped like a green maple leaf waving behind its head. Heavy-lidded orange eyes peered out from behind bright yellow eyelids—and lit up as they alighted upon something the same color as itself.

"Sni!" it squeaked, eyes darting around the room. The tip of its nose twitched as the Pokemon lifted. its tail in the air and sniffed the air around its head, and then it seemed to nod to itself. "Sni Snivy!"

All of them watched, wide-eyed, as it waddled on its two legs over to where Bianca was standing. The girl's eyes lit up as she stared back at, her jaw dropping in surprise.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped, leaning down and beckoning toward the Snivy. "No way…really? You're choosing me?"

The Snivy didn't answer; it simply kept walking forward, tail swinging behind its body, and stopped firmly next to her foot.

Bianca brought her hands to her face, which had turned a bright shade of pink. "I can't believe it! I'm never chosen first! Oh my gosh! I can't believe this! Th-th-thank you, Snivy!"

"Yay! Go Bianca!" Touko cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

"You deserve it, Bee!" Touya exclaimed from next to her. Cheren smiled quietly, a gleam in his eyes.

Without warning, the Snivy suddenly sprang up from the ground, latching onto Bianca's hat and sending it tumbling to the floor. The blond girl let out a squeak and jumped back, nearly colliding with Cheren. Hand pressed against her chest, she watched as the Pokemon wrestled with the hat until it managed to wrap its short, leafy arms around the brim. Its tail swung up in a leafy exclamation point as the Snivy let out a squeal of victory. "_Sni_!"

"Well, would you look at that!" Professor Juniper chuckled. "He likes your hat, Bianca! It's green, just like him."

Bianca clapped her hands, beaming down at the little Pokemon. "Aww, you like green, too? It's my favorite color! Along with orange. See, we'll be best friends! I can already tell!" she chirped, beaming, and plucked the hat from the Snivy's grasp. The Snivy reached its arms up at her, and she giggled. "You can come up here too." With that, she hoisted the Snivy onto her shoulder, where its claws scrabbled against her shirt and, finally, perched with its arms crossed like a war hero.

"I'm so happy for you Bianca," Professor Juniper said, smiling at the dynamic duo the two made. "Snivy chose you to be his all on his own—yes, it's a boy, by the way—and you definitely deserve to be his trainer. Now." She turned toward the others. "Are you ready for the second one?"

Cheren nodded. "Anytime you are."

"I was _born_ ready." Touya grinned.

The second Pokemon hit the floor on its two small, blue feet, rocking back and catching itself on the short, flat tail behind its back. A thin layer of blue fur covered its body, save for the white of its head and its arms and the peculiar yellow shell that lay nestled against its chest. Blue ears wiggled back and forth as the Pokemon took in its surroundings, and a pair of large, dark eyes brimmed with uncertainty, a perplexed frown taking shape under its button nose.

Touko watched with bated breath as the Pokemon turned and began waddling on its two blue feet toward—_Cheren_. Her friend took a step back, eyes widening behind its glasses.

"Osha?" the Pokemon whimpered, stretching out its arms.

"Oshawott," Cheren said confidently, though Touko could spot a gleam of awe in his eyes; he was relieved, she knew, had known him long enough to tell. "I've read a lot about Oshawott, you know…about all the things it can do with the shell on its stomach. It's called a scalchop. You know…I think I would have wanted it in the first place."

"That's great, Cheren!" Bianca exclaimed, eyes sparkling as she stroked her new Snivy's scales. It was still tugging at her hat with its claws, and she giggled as one of them brushed against her ear. "I'm so happy for you!"

"You deserve it, Cheren," Touko agreed. Because he did. She knew he had wanted to be Champion ever since he had first picked up a book and seen the colorful images of Pokemon splayed across the page, ever since the navy fire had begun to burn inside his eyes whenever he spoke of training and battles and the one hundred and one rules of strategy he had read and committed to memory. Still, she couldn't help but feel a pang of envy in her stomach at the way he knelt down, a rare smile touching his lips, and beckoned toward the tiny sea otter Pokemon. He would be a caring trainer, she knew, a careful trainer.

And then it hit her: now it was between her and Touya.

Touko gulped, her heartrate suddenly ratcheting up to a million beats a minute. Really? Was this what it came down to? Between her and the boy she…liked? Loved? Had a raging crush on? She didn't even know the right word. It left her head spinning, to be in such an awfully precarious position. What could she do? She wanted a Pokemon, but she didn't want Touya to be the last one left…

His brown eyes met hers, a smile, hopeful and genuine, still shining within them. "You know, Touko, even if I don't get the last Pokemon, I'd be happy for you. I mean, it is a fire type…right? I don't know about you, but I'm not the biggest fan of getting burned." He winked, and Touko felt her stomach lurch.

_Oh Arceus, please no_, she groaned inwardly. _Don't do this to me. Don't make me fall for you even more_…

"You too, Touya," she answered, fingers twisting at the fabric of her vest. "Burns build character, you know."

"Oh, please. I get verbally burned enough by Cher-bear over there to have built enough character for everything he's lacking," he laughed, waving his hand as Cheren shook his head and facepalmed.

Even Professor Juniper held her breath as she reached into the box for the last Poke Ball, and the others didn't move, didn't make a single sound as she drew her arm back and let go, letting the Poke Ball plummet to the ground.

The last—second-to-last, really—Pokemon who jumped out from its Poke Ball was a small, orange, pig-like creature with long black ears that twitched and waved back and forth. Black and orange hooves clacked against the tiles as it pranced around the floor on its four chubby legs and tipped its head back to beam at the four teenagers who were staring down at it with their jaws ajar.

"Tep!" it squealed. "Tep Tepig!"

"Aw!" Bianca cried, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "It's so cute!"

Touko's heart was hammering against her ribs. It _was_ cute. The Tepig seemed overwhelmed by its surroundings, staring from one face to another, bouncing on its hooves and turning from one direction to another, full of energy. It stumbled forward, tripping on one of its back hooves, and landed on the ground, its snout pointed toward Touya.

"Hey, you okay?" he said gently, chuckling, and stretched out a hand. The Tepig squealed and pulled itself to its feet, and as it regained its balance once again, it began walking toward him.

Touko let out her breath, her shoulders sagging with…relief? Disappointment? It was all done. The last Pokemon had chosen Touya, not her, sweet, funny Touya with his shaggy hair and mischievous eyes. Well, she was happy…even happier, maybe, than she would have been if it had chosen her. Now Touya had a Pokemon, and now _he _would be happy. And she was happy for him, too…this was really the best way for it to end…

The Tepig stumbled again barely a foot away from Touya, and turned, its head swiveling toward Touko.

"Teeep," it greeted her, eyes flickering with recognition, and she knew in that moment that it was done.

"H-hey, little guy…" She reached out a hand. "Hey, come here."

"Oh my gosh…Touko!" Bianca gasped. "Touko, it likes you! Oh my gosh!"

But the blond girl quickly cut herself off, pressing a hand over her mouth as she realized what she had just said and what had just been decided by none other than the tiny fire Pokemon sitting in front of them. There was no going back now. None of the others spoke, not even Professor Juniper, who watched them with a hint of regret twisting the corners of her lips.

Eyes wide, they all turned toward Touya, who was holding his hands in the air as if he had frozen mid-beckon. As he looked back at them, his face split in a crooked, sheepish grin, a chuckle escaping from his lips, one that, for the first time in all the years that they had ever known him, seemed forced.

"Well, it's okay, guys. Don't worry about me…all the more reason to beat up that thief when we catch him, right?"

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note:<em>

Poor Touya! :( But the Pokemon have spoken! And now the plot begins, for real…mwahaha.

Sorry about the obscene amount of time it took me to publish this chapter! I was struggling for a while with making the dialogue flow naturally, and I wanted to get the four of them their Pokemon—or lack thereof—so that they can start their journey in the next chapter! By the way, I hope you recognized that guy who gave the witness account from the games. He's in every single starting town. ;)

Thanks for your reviews from last time, and again, please review for this one! Your reviews make my day :D


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